DALLAS — Energy supply is back on everyone's mind again as tens of thousands of Texans lost power overnight due to storms across Texas.
While many may be quick to blame ERCOT due to events such as the 2021 ice storm causing the power grid to fail, this isn't related to the power grid. This was the weather's impact on Oncor.
ERCOT maintains the state's power supply through the grid, but Oncor is a delivery service for that power. The power lines you see running along streets are maintained by Oncor, it's how the energy from ERCOT's grid gets to Texans' homes.
ERCOT's four primary responsibilities, in its own words, are to:
- Maintain system reliability
- Facilitate a competitive wholesale market
- Facilitate a competitive retail market
- Ensure open access to transmission
Distribution companies like Oncor that send power to those homes and businesses get their electricity from the transmission system, which is what ERCOT manages from its control room. ERCOT is responsible for overseeing that transmission across the grid.
In a statement issued Saturday morning, transmission and distribution electric utility Oncor confirmed that, at 9 a.m., approximately 75,000 customers across the state were still without power in the wake of the storms, with that number having peaked at 125,000 customers on Friday night.
In its statement, Oncor said its teams are "working around the clock until power can be restored" and that its crews began its effort to restore power as soon as it was safe to do so. Additionally, teams from unaffected regions of Oncor’s service area have been brought in to support those efforts, the statement said.
To stay up to date as power is restored, check for updates to our article here.
